Bidets are commonly used for personal hygiene both in the United States and internationally. Users of bidets champion the use of water to cleanse the body in lieu of paper tissue.
Traditional bidets can be expensive. Since most traditional households in the United States are not built with bidets, there is considerable cost to re-plumb a bathroom.
Traditional bidets are also not intuitive to most users in the United States. Users generally do not know how to sit and adjust the flow of water for proper cleansing. For guests that visit homeowners with bidets, this can lead to embarrassing moments when homeowners must explain its use.
Traditional bidets consist of a ceramic bowl with a fountain fixture located in the middle of the bowl. The user depresses a paddle or turns a knob on the side of the bowl, causing water to be sprayed upwards with a moderate force. The user can regulate the force of spray by adjusting the paddle on the side of the bowl.
The aesthetic design of traditional bidets is evidenced by recent issued Design Patents; D486894 to Garza, D484579 to Bennie, and D476401 to Palacin. These designs demonstrate traditional approaches to this method of personal hygiene.
The high cost and limitations of installing a traditional bidet as a separate plumbing fixture has been recognized. A design by McMurdo (Pub No.: U.S. 2003/0220620 A1) has a self contained water supply which is applied by squeezing a collapsible vessel.
Other designs are located or integrated with a standard toilet. These include a spraying device mounted at the rear end of a toilet bowl by Bass, Sr. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,509), and a design with the spraying located in the front portion of the bowl by Moshkovich (U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,406).
Other designs include flexible hoses that can be manipulated to clean specific areas. These include a two headed design by Krist (U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,055), a stream outlet design by Bell (U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,913), and a nozzle type sprayer assembly by Mueller (6,704,946).
Traditional bidets require separate fixtures for installation. This is an expensive process for most homes and leads people to look for alternate solutions.
The use of a squeeze bottle as a type of bidet (McMurdo) suffers from a limited water supply. Spraying devices mounted on the toilet bowl is an improvement (Bass, Sr.; Moshkovich), but is limited by the stationary aspects of the sprayer.
Although not directly related to bidet devices, several combined nozzle and sprinkler devices in the prior art may have general relevance the disclosed subject-matter. Typically, such devices are two-way devices, permitting either nozzle or sprinkler operation, and are attachable to a garden hose or the like. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 523,941, to North, et al., entitled Combined Sprayer and Nozzle, generally discloses a two-way valve-actuated sprinkler and nozzle device. The device may be hand-held or ground mounted by means of a stationary spike. The dangers inherent in such structure are obvious. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 1,031,176, to Gilpin, entitled Combined Nozzle, Sprayer, and Sprinkler, discloses a two-way valve, sprinkler/nozzle combination device wherein valve operation is actuated by manually extending and planting two spikes in the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 1,026,742, to French, entitled Combination Hose Nozzle and Sprayer, teaches a three-positional valve spraying device which may be actuated to a fully off position, a nozzle only position, and a sprayer only position. Other combination nozzle/sprayer devices rely upon relatively complex valve structure for operation. U.S. Pat. No. 623,057, to Wentz, entitled Combined Nozzle and Sprayer; and U.S. Pat. No. 1,612,326, to Taylor, entitled Garden Hose Attachment, also rely on rather complex valve structure to actuate their respective spray heads.
Additionally, spray-cleaning devices are known to employ variable spray nozzles and also to use a dispenser for containing and dispensing soaps of other cleaning agents. There are numerous issued patents directed to dispensers having variable discharge patterns. A dispenser of a relevant type may be a relatively low-cost, hand-held device which may be operated by pulling the trigger to pump a liquid substance from the interior of a container attached to the dispenser and through a nozzle at the front of the dispenser. Dispensers of this general type have a variety of features which have become well-known in the industry. For example, many of these dispensers include a horizontally aligned or an inclined pump which may be actuated using a trigger pivotally attached to the dispenser housing. This type of dispenser is frequently referred to as a trigger sprayer. Another type of dispenser has a vertically reciprocating pump which may be actuated with the index finger to dispense liquid as a stream or a spray. This type of dispenser is frequently referred to as a finger type pump. Still another type of dispenser comprises a container and a manually operated valve where the fluid contents of the container are pressurized. When the valve is opened, the fluid is dispensed. This type of fluid dispenser is frequently referred to as an aerosol dispenser. Such sprayers and dispensers are known to be useful for cleaning purposes.
The current class of personal-cleansing (bidet) devices, however, suffer from various limitations, and most designs only spray water (Krist, Bell, and Mueller), which may clean, but does not sanitize.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide and inexpensive and easy-to-retrofit device for personal cleaning. It is another object of the invention to allow soap, cleaners, antiseptic or antibacterial agents to be applied in conjunction with the personal cleansing process.